South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) Offers R240 Extra Grant Top Up for Guardians of Orphaned Children

• The SA Social Security Agency said guardians of children who are orphaned will receive a top-up grant of R240
• The top-up grant is meant to assist extended family members who care for orphaned children, according to Sassa
• The Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu said children who need the grant will be assisted quickly

PRETORIA - An amount of R240 will be added to grants of the guardians of orphaned children according to the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa).

On Wednesday 8 June, the agency said beneficiaries will receive an additional R240 over and above the standard R480.

Applicants are required to produce both the parents’ death certificates and if the child had only one parent, they must produce an affidavit stating that the child's other parent’s whereabouts is unknown. The addition of the top-up grant is to assist extended family members who care for orphaned children, according to a post shared on Twitter.

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The Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu made the announcement of the extension in parliament last month and said children who need the grant will be assisted quickly. She added that the social grant investment constitutes 99.6% of the department’s total budget allocation in the current financial year, TimesLIVE reported.

SA reacts to grant top-up

South Africans raised questions over why the grants of orphans differ from those of children who live with their parents:

@kayb88 said:

“This mediocrity happening in this department must be addressed. Why would an orphan earning R480 be assisted to earn R720 instead of earning R1050?”

Matlhomola Sello wrote:

“Sassa doesn't know their story they don't even know that orphans get foster care grand of R1060 not child support grand of R480. R480 is for every child in SA what are they saying entliek.”

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Nkosikho Mtshawe commented:

“Orphaned or not, as long as parents are not working, children are starving, and hunger doesn't see who has parents or not.”

Pangela Emabalabala added:

“Grants is not the way to go, create jobs.”

Over 10 million R350 SRD grant recipients still waiting for their April and May payouts, says Sassa

In a related matter, Briefly News also reported the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has admitted that newly approved R350 Social Relief of Distress grant beneficiaries have not received their payments for April and May. Approximately 10 million South Africans have applied to receive the SRD grant from the month of April, however, Sassa says it hopes it will be able to make payouts from mid-June.

According to Fin24, the delay in payments comes after the Department of Social Development made the decision to test a new phase of the R350 grant. With the new phase, South Africans who receive R350 or more per month will not be eligible to receive the grant.

Source: Briefly News